Engineering:Message picture

From HandWiki
Short description: Film intended to communicate sociopolitical ideas as well as entertain

A message picture (or message movie)[1] is a motion picture that, in addition to or instead of being for entertainment, intends to communicate a certain message or ideal about society.

Characteristics

Message pictures usually present the message they want to deliver in the form of a morality play, and are usually serious (often somber) works. However, not all message pictures are entirely serious, and there are also films spoofing the genre (Sullivan's Travels, for example).[2]

History

Dore Schary was famous for his message pictures at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the late 1940s and early to mid-1950s. Among these were Tea and Sympathy, Bad Day at Black Rock, and Blackboard Jungle.[3] Other famous message pictures by other parties include Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night[4] (the former directed by Stanley Kramer, who was also well known for numerous message films).[5]

In Indian cinema, B.R. Chopra was known for message pictures. Examples include Kanoon (against capital punishment), Naya Daur (importance of labour), Waqt (importance of time and destiny), Nikaah (against triple talaq (divorce) among Muslims), etc.[6]

Examples

Pre-1970

  • The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
  • It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
  • On the Waterfront (1954)
  • Salt of the Earth (1954)
  • Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
  • Blackboard Jungle (1955)
  • Tea and Sympathy (1956)
  • Paths of Glory (1957)
  • I Want to Live! (1958)
  • On the Beach (1959)
  • Psycho (1960)
  • Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
  • The Connection (1961)
  • The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
  • To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
  • The Intruder (1962)
  • A Child Is Waiting (1963)
  • Fail Safe (1964)
  • Seconds (1966)
  • Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
  • In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Post-1970

  • Billy Jack (1971)
  • The Deer Hunter (1978)
  • Gandhi (1982)
  • White Dog (1982)
  • The Color Purple (1985)
  • Stand and Deliver (1988)
  • Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
  • Do the Right Thing (1989)
  • Philadelphia (1993)
  • Schindler's List (1993)
  • Amistad (1997)
  • American History X (1998)
  • American Beauty (1999)
  • The Cider House Rules (1999)
  • Music of the Heart (1999)
  • Erin Brockovich (2000)
  • Pay It Forward (2000)
  • Remember the Titans (2000)
  • The Devil's Backbone (2001)
  • I Am Sam (2001)
  • House of Sand and Fog (2003)
  • The Sea Inside (2004)
  • Crash (2004)
  • Woman Thou Art Loosed (2004)
  • American Gun (2005)
  • Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
  • Babel (2006)
  • Blood Diamond (2006)
  • Coach Carter (2006)
  • Wall-E (2008)
  • Avatar (2009)
  • Courageous (2011)
  • God Bless America (2011)
  • Where to Invade Next (2015)
  • Get Out (2017)
  • The Hate U Give (2018)
  • Us (2019)
  • Don't Look Up (2021)
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
  • Barbarian (2022)
  • Smile (2022)
  • X (2022)
  • Pearl (2022)
  • M3GAN (2023)
  • Barbie (2023)
  • Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023)
  • Oppenheimer (2023)
  • The Zone of Interest (2023)

Sources:[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]

Notable directors

See also

References

  1. Frost & Carr 2018, p. 3.
  2. "Sullivan's Travels" (in en). https://www.criterion.com/films/657-sullivan-s-travels. 
  3. Smith, J.Y. (July 8, 1980). "Film Producer Dore Schary, 74, Dies" (in en-US). The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1980/07/08/film-producer-dore-schary-74-dies/2568607b-4b07-421f-bb62-95e029cb60b0/. 
  4. "In the Heat of the Night" (in en). https://www.criterion.com/films/29459-in-the-heat-of-the-night. 
  5. Bergan, Ronald (2001-02-21). "Obituary: Stanley Kramer" (in en-GB). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/feb/21/guardianobituaries.filmnews. 
  6. Bali, Karan (2015-04-22). "BR Chopra". https://upperstall.com/profile/br-chopra/. 
  7. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  8. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  9. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  10. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  11. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  12. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  13. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  14. Top 10 Classic Films With a Social Message - ThoughtCo.White, Deborah (2019-03-28). "Top 10 Classic Films With a Social Message". People Inc.. https://www.thoughtco.com/top-classic-films-with-social-message-3325203. 
  15. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  16. Cosme, Shante (May 12, 2012). "The 10 Most Heavy-Handed Message Movies" (in en). https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/shante-cosme/the-10-most-heavy-handed-message-movies. 
  17. Kovalchik, Kara (December 17, 2013). "6 Things You Might Not Have Known About Billy Jack" (in en-US). https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/54248/6-things-you-might-not-have-known-about-billy-jack. 6 Things You Might Not Have Known About Billy Jack|Mental Floss
  18. Frisch, Addison (2023-08-28). "POWERFUL MESSAGE BEHIND HIT MOVIE “BARBIE”". https://www.seminolenewspaper.com/powerful-message-behind-hit-movie-barbie/. 
  19. Long, Kelle (December 27, 2017). "Get Out's Cinematographer Reveals the Methods Behind Jordan Peele's Brilliant Madness" (in en-US). https://www.motionpictures.org/2017/12/get-outs-cinematographer-reveals-methods-behind-jordan-peeles-brilliant-madness-2/. 
  20. Randall, Melissa; Jiménez, Paula Rey; Jiménez, Melissa Randall and Paula Rey (2023-06-21). "The Everything, Everywhere, All at Once Meaning and Themes" (in en-US). https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-meaning/. 
  21. Weeks, Andrew (2023-07-27). "Oppenheimer: A masterful film with a haunting message" (in en). https://www.hjnews.com/opinion/columns/oppenheimer-a-masterful-film-with-a-haunting-message/article_5ea6fdd2-2be1-11ee-aee4-dfefd808d446.html. 
  22. Krishnan, Gaurav (2023-03-03). "Why Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is More Relevant Than Ever" (in en). https://movieweb.com/why-oppenheimer-is-so-relevant-now/. 
  23. Dominguez, Andrew; Minchin, Amanda (2023-02-13). "10 Horror Movies That Deliver Important Messages About Society" (in en). https://movieweb.com/horror-movies-that-deliver-important-messages/. 
  24. 24.0 24.1 Brown, Aleisha (2023-04-23). "10 Best Socially Conscious Horror Movies of the 21st Century" (in en). https://collider.com/best-horror-movies-with-a-message-21st-century/. 
  25. Shaw, Angel (February 28, 2024). "2023's Top Movie Data Proves That Barbie Happened At Just The Right Time" (in en). https://screenrant.com/barbie-2023-movie-data-proves-message-important/. 
  26. Roman, Julian (2023-06-29). "Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Review: A Clever Girl Power Message with Vivid Animation" (in en). https://movieweb.com/ruby-gillman-teenage-kraken-review/. 
  27. Adams, Sam (December 15, 2023). "Why The Zone of Interest Is Filmed Like “Big Brother in a Nazi House”" (in en-US). Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. https://slate.com/culture/2023/12/the-zone-of-interest-movie-holocaust-jonathan-glazer.html. Retrieved 2026-03-09. 
  28. Adams, Sam (October 5, 2018). "The Hate U Give Is a Black Lives Matter Movie Designed for Anyone Willing to Listen" (in en-US). Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. https://slate.com/culture/2018/10/the-hate-u-give-movie-review-adaptation.html. Retrieved 2026-03-09. 
  29. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  30. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  31. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  32. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
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  34. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  35. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  36. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  37. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart
  38. The Best Message Movies of All Time - Flickchart

Sources

Frost, Jennifer; Carr, Steven Alan (March 12, 2018) (in en). Teaching History with Message Movies. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. ISBN 978-1-4422-7839-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=EUVKDwAAQBAJ&dq=message+picture+movies.